View source for Richard Croker

{{short description|American politician (1843–1922)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name           = Richard "Boss" Croker
| image          = Richard Croker - Bain portrait2.jpg
| office         = [[Grand Sachem]] of [[Tammany Hall]]
| term_start     = 1886
| term_end       = 1902
| predecessor    = [[John Kelly (New York politician)|John Kelly]]
| successor      = [[Lewis Nixon (naval architect)|Lewis Nixon]]
|office2=Chamberlain of the City of New York
|term_start2=1889
|term_end2=1890
| office4 =[[Coroner of New York City#New York County|Coroner of New York County]]
|term_start4=1873
|term_end4=1876
| office3 =[[New York City Fire Commissioner]]
|term_start3=1883
|term_end3=1887
| office5        = Member of the [[New York City Council]]
| term_start5    = 1868
| term_end5      = 1870
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1843|11|24}} 
| birth_place    = [[Ardfield]], [[County Cork]], Ireland
| death_date     = {{Death date and age|1922|4|29|1843|11|24}}
| death_place    = [[Stillorgan]], [[County Dublin]], Ireland
| party          = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse         = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Elizabeth Fraser|1873|1914|end=d.}}
* {{Marriage|Beulah Edmonson|1914}}
}}
| children       = 7
| profession     = [[Coroner]], [[mobster]]
}}

'''Richard Welstead Croker''' (November 24, 1843 &ndash; April 29, 1922), known as "'''Boss Croker'''", was an [[Irish American]] [[political boss]] who was a leader of [[New York City]]'s [[Tammany Hall]].<ref name=obit/> His control over the city was cemented with the 1897 election of [[Robert A. Van Wyck]] as the first [[Mayor of New York City|mayor]] of all five [[Boroughs of New York City|boroughs]]. During his tenure as [[Grand Sachem]], Boss Croker garnered a reputation for corruption and ruthlessness and was frequently the subject of investigations. As his power waned following the 1900 and 1901 elections, Croker resigned his position and returned to Ireland, where he spent the rest of his life.

==Biography==
[[File:New York's New Solar System2.jpg|thumb|left|Politicians and people from various professions revolve around Croker, depicted as the sun in this 1898 cartoon from ''[[Puck (magazine)|Puck]]''.]]
Richard Croker was born in the [[townland]] of Ballyva, in the parish of [[Ardfield]], six miles south of [[Clonakilty]] in [[County Cork]] on November 24, 1843,<ref>''New York Times'' [April 12, 1927. Date from 1911 ''EB'' article; other sources say 1841. The [[1880 US census]] shows a [[:File:1880 census Croker.jpg|Richard Croker, an ex-coroner]] at that date, born in Ireland in 1843, living in [[Harrison, New York|Harrison, Westchester, New York]]. It does not show any other Irish-born Richard Croker. Found by searching for the relevant terms at [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100501180742/http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census%2Fsearch_census.asp |date=2010-05-01 }}, October 7, 2006.</ref> son of Eyre Coote Croker (1800–1881) and Frances Laura Welsted (1807–1894).<ref name= FLWC1>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Death of Richard Croker's Mother |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/20654631/?terms=%22Eyre%2BCoote%2BCroker%22 |work= The New York Times |location= New York |date= 1894-08-10 |access-date= 2017-06-22}}</ref> He was taken to the United States by his parents when he was just two years old. They boarded the ''Henry Clay'' in [[Cobh]], County Cork and headed for the land of opportunity.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kramer|first=Rita|title=Well, what are you going to do about it?|work=AmericanHeritage.com|publisher=American Heritage Magazine|date=February 1973|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1973/2/1973_2_17_print.shtml|access-date=August 26, 2010|archive-date=January 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101191434/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1973/2/1973_2_17_print.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>

There were significant differences between this family and the typical family [[Irish diaspora|leaving Ireland at that time]]. They were [[Protestant]], and were not land tenants. Eyre Coote Croker owned an estate in [[Ardfield]], in southwest Cork.<ref name= RCTSOHA>{{Cite news|last=Clarke|first=J.I.C.|title=Richard Croker -- The Story Of His Ancestry|newspaper=The New York Times|page=SM4|date=July 14, 1907|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/07/14/104991407.pdf|access-date=August 28, 2010}}</ref> Upon arrival in the United States, Eyre Coote Croker was without a profession, but he had a general knowledge of horses and soon became a veterinary surgeon. During the Civil War, he served in that same capacity under General [[Daniel Sickles]].<ref name= FLWC1/>

Richard Croker was educated in New York<!-- NY City co-extensive with NY County at the time --> public schools. Croker dropped out of school at age twelve or thirteen to become an apprentice machinist in the [[Harlem Railroad]] machine shops. Not long after, he became a valued member of the Fourth Avenue Tunnel Gang, a street gang that attacked teamsters and other workers that gathered around the Harlem line's freight depot. Croker eventually became the gang's leader.<ref name="Allen">{{cite book|last=Allen|first=Oliver E.|title=The Tiger: The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall|date=1993|publisher=Addison-Wesley Publishing Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tigerrisefalloft00alle/page/172 172–173]|isbn=0-201-62463-X|url=https://archive.org/details/tigerrisefalloft00alle/page/172|url-access=registration}}</ref> He joined one of the Volunteer Fire Departments in 1863, becoming an engineer of one of the engine companies. That was his gateway into public life.<ref name= RCTSOHA/> [[James O'Brien (U.S. Congressman)|James O'Brien]], a Tammany associate, took notice of Croker after Croker won a boxing match against Dick Lynch whereby Croker knocked out all of Lynch's teeth. Croker became a member of [[Tammany Hall]] and active in its politics. In the 1860s, he was well known for being a "repeater" at elections, voting multiple times at the polls.<ref name="Allen"/> He was an [[alderman]] from 1868 to 1870, [[Coroner of New York County, New York]], from 1873 to 1876. Croker was charged with the murder of John McKenna, a lieutenant of [[James O'Brien (U.S. Congressman)|James O'Brien]], during a fight on election day of 1874 with O'Brien's rival political group. O'Brien was running for Congress against the Tammany-backed [[Abram S. Hewitt]]. [[John Kelly (New York politician)|John Kelly]], the new Tammany Hall boss, attended the trial, and Croker was freed after the [[hung jury|jury was undecided]].<ref name="Allen"/> Croker moved to [[Harrison, New York]] by 1880. He was appointed the [[New York City Fire Commissioner]] in 1883 and 1887 and city [[Chamberlain (office)|Chamberlain]] from 1889 to 1900.

[[File:Rogers,_W._A._(William_Allen),_Rogers_A_Cinch_1893_Cornell_CUL_PJM_1112_01.jpg|thumb|left|A Cinch. Says Boss Croker to Boss McLaughlin: "Shake!" ''(Harper's Magazine, 1893)'']]
After the death of John Kelly, Croker became the leader of Tammany Hall and for some time almost completely controlled that organization. As head of Tammany, Croker received [[bribery|bribe money]] from the owners of [[prostitution|brothels]], [[bar (establishment)|saloons]] and illegal [[gambling]] dens. Croker was chairman of Tammany's Finance Committee but received no salary for his position. Croker also became a partner in the real estate firm Meyer and Croker with [[Peter F. Meyer]], from which he made substantial money. The money was often derived from sales under the control of the city through city judges. Other income came by way of gifts of stock from street railway and transit companies, for example. The city police were largely still under the control of Tammany Hall, and payoffs from vice protection operations also contributed to Tammany income. Croker survived [[Charles Henry Parkhurst]]'s attacks on Tammany Hall's [[corruption]] and became a wealthy man. Several committees were established in the 1890s, largely at the behest of [[Thomas C. Platt]] and other Republicans, to investigate Tammany and Croker, including the 1890 [[Fassett Investigation|Fassett Committee]], the 1894 [[Lexow Committee]], during which Croker left the United States for his European residences for three years, and the [[Frank Moss (lawyer)|Mazet Investigation]] of 1899.<ref>Allen pp.179 - 200</ref>

Croker's greatest political success was his bringing about the 1897 election of [[Robert A. Van Wyck]] as first mayor of the five-[[borough (New York City)|borough]] "greater" New York, and during Van Wyck's administration Croker is popularly supposed to have completely dominated the government of the city.

Croker was in the newspapers in 1899 after a disagreement with [[Jay Gould]]'s son, [[George Jay Gould I|George Gould]], president of the [[Manhattan Railway Company|Manhattan Elevated Railroad Company]], when Gould refused Croker's attempt to attach compressed-air pipes to the Elevated company's structures. Croker owned many shares of the New York Auto-Truck Company, which would have benefited from the arrangement. In response to the refusal, Croker used Tammany influence to create new city laws requiring drip pans under structures in Manhattan at every street crossing and the requirement that the railroad run trains every five minutes with a $100 violation for every instance.<ref>Allen p. 196</ref> Croker also held 2,500 shares of the American Ice Company, worth approximately $250,000, which came under scrutiny in 1900 when the [[Robert Anderson Van Wyck#Political career|company attempted to raise the price of ice in the city]].<ref>Allen p. 200</ref>

After Croker's failure to carry the city in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1900|1900 presidential election]] and the defeat of his mayoralty candidate, [[Edward M. Shepard]] in 1901, he resigned from his position of leadership in Tammany and was succeeded by [[Lewis Nixon (naval architect)|Lewis Nixon]]. Croker departed the United States in 1905.<ref name="1915passport">[https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1174/USM1490_241-0041?pid=492756#?imageId=USM1490_241-0041] 1915 U.S. Passport Application for Richard W. Croker, accessed April 2017</ref> An associate described Croker as having "[a] strong frame, a deep chest, a short neck and a pair of hard fists.... He speaks in monosyllables, [and] commands a vocabulary that appears to be limited to about three hundred words...."<ref name="Allen"/>

==Thoroughbred racing==
[[File:Boss_Croker_octopus.jpg|thumb|right|Boss Croker as an Octopus]]
Croker operated a stable of [[thoroughbred]] racehorses in the United States in partnership with [[Michael F. Dwyer|Mike Dwyer]]. In January 1895, they sent a stable of horses to England under the care of trainer [[Hardy Campbell Jr.]] and jockey [[Willie Simms]]. Following a dispute, the partnership was dissolved in May but Croker continued to race in England.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/05/18/archives/croker-and-dwyer-part-company.html |title=Croker and Dwyer Part Company |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2012-06-10 |access-date=2016-12-12}}</ref>

In 1907, his horse [[Orby (horse)|Orby]] won Britain's most prestigious race, [[Epsom Derby|The Derby]]. Orby was ridden by American jockey [[John Reiff]], whose brother [[Lester Reiff|Lester]] had won the race in 1901. Croker was also the breeder of Orby's son [[Grand Parade (horse)|Grand Parade]], who won the Derby in 1919.

==Death==
Croker returned to Ireland in 1905 and bought an estate in [[Malahide]], county Dublin where he bred horses. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Connolly |first=Sean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OiOcDwAAQBAJ |title=On Every Tide: The making and remaking of the Irish world |date=2022-08-25 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=978-1-4087-0949-8 |pages=Chapter 7 |language=en}}</ref> He died on April 29, 1922, at [[Glencairn House]], his home in [[Stillorgan]] outside Dublin.<ref name="obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/04/30/archives/richard-croker-dies-in-his-irish-castle-as-result-of-cold-extammany.html |title=Richard Croker Dies In His Irish Castle As Result Of Cold |quote=Ex-Tammany Boss, Aged 80 Suffered Exposure On Trip From America In October. Dictator Here 16 Years Gang Leader, Prize Fighter, Alderman, Coroner Before He became Tammany's Chief. Made Fortune In Politics Went Abroad To Live And Wonderby. Last Years Embittered By Fight With Children. [[London]], April 29, 1922. Richard Croker, former leader of Tammany Hall, died at 3:30 o'clock this afternoon at Glencairn Castle, his residence in County Dublin.|work=[[New York Times]]|date=April 29, 1922|access-date=June 14, 2007}}</ref> 
His funeral, celebrated by South African bishop William Miller, drew some of Dublin's most eminent citizens; the pallbearers were [[Arthur Griffith]], the [[President of Dáil Éireann]]; [[Laurence O'Neill]], the [[Lord Mayor of Dublin]]; [[Oliver St. John Gogarty]]; [[Joseph MacDonagh]]; A.H. Flauley, of Chicago; and J.E. Tierney.<ref name="times1922">{{cite news |newspaper=The Times |location=London |date=May 6, 1922 |title=funeral of Mr. Richard Croker}}</ref> [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], Chairman of the [[Provisional Government of Ireland (1922)|Provisional Government]], was represented by [[Kevin O'Shiel]]; the [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland|Lord Lieutenant]], [[Edmund FitzAlan-Howard, 1st Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent|Viscount FitzAlan]], was represented by his under-secretary, James MacMahon.<ref name="times1922" /> 

In 1927, [[J. J. Walsh]] claimed that, just before his death, Croker had accepted the Provisional Government's invitation to stand in [[Dublin County (Dáil constituency)|Dublin County]] in [[1922 Irish general election|the imminent Irish election]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr. Croker as a Candidate |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1927/0323/Pg003.html#Ar00305 |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 August 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=March 23, 1927 |location=Dublin, Ireland |page=3}}</ref>

==Family==
Croker married twice; first, in 1873, to Elizabeth Fraser.<ref name="1880census">[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1880usfedcen&indiv=try&h=4839892] 1880 U.S. Federal Census: Richard Croker. Accessed April 2017.</ref><ref name="passport1890">[https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1174/USM1372_356-0661?pid=1439615] 1890 U.S. Passport Application of Richard Croker and family. Accessed April 2017.</ref> They had several children.

[[File:Bula Benton EdmunsonEdmundson Croker.jpg|thumb|right|Beulah Croker, outside [[Glencairn House]], their house in [[Stillorgan]], {{Circa}} 1921 or 1922]]
He married [[Bula Croker|Bula Benson Edmondson]] in November 1914 when he was 71 years old.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shinyshots.palmbeachdailynews.com/pages/photo_page.php?mm=1504062&gallery=296299|access-date=July 22, 2008|title=Photo from the wedding|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208034709/http://shinyshots.palmbeachdailynews.com/pages/photo_page.php?mm=1504062&gallery=296299|archive-date=December 8, 2007}}</ref> She was of [[American Indian and Alaska Native|American Indian]] descent, her tribal name being Ketaw Kaluntuchy.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/58946564/?terms=Croker "Princess Ketaw Kaluntuchy Now Mrs. Richard Croker," ''The Coffeyville Daily Journal,'' Coffeyville, Kansas, November 30, 1914, page 4]</ref>

===Disputed will===
Croker left an estate estimated to $3–5 million to his second wife, Beulah, disinheriting his estranged children.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1922/05/01/archives/children-cut-off-by-richard-croker-entire-estate-estimated-at-3-to.html|title=Children cut off by Richard Croker|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 22, 1922|access-date=2008-07-22|format=PDF|quote="Entire Estate, Estimated at 3 to 5 Millions, Goes to His 'Indian Bride.' Richard Croker left nothing to his four children ..."}}</ref> He had converted to Catholicism shortly before his death but this does not appear to have played a role in his disinheriting his children.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WS7v1WOpMj8C&pg=PT399 |title=Boss Tweed: The Corrupt Pol who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York |first=Kenneth D. |last=Ackerman |page=399|via=Google Books |date=2011-12-19 |publisher=Viral History Press LLC |isbn=9781619450097 |access-date=2016-12-12}}</ref> A note in his handwriting, dated at Glencairn, November 15, 1919 read as follows:<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Undue Influence By Mrs. Croker Charged In Protest To Probating Croker's Will Filed By Children |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/133408256/?terms=%22richard%2Bcroker%22 |work= The Palm Beach Post |location= West Palm Beach, Florida |date= 1922-07-29 |access-date= 2017-06-22}}</ref>

{{quotation|My dear Bula: I am writing this note for you to keep and in case you should survive me I wish you would give my daughter Florence ten thousand pounds. She is the only one of my surviving children who has ever shown any graditude [sic] to me. (Signed) Richard Croker.}}

Croker's other surviving children, Richard, Ethel, and Howard, unsuccessfully challenged the will in a celebrated [[probate]] lawsuit in the [[Court of King's Bench (Ireland)|Court of King's Bench in Ireland]].<ref name="kingsbench"/> They claimed that their father in 1919 was of unsound mind and unduly influenced by his wife, and that the 1914 marriage was void as she was already married to one Guy R. Marone.<ref name="kingsbench"/> A jury rejected all these allegations.<ref name="kingsbench">{{cite news |title=A Life Tragedy |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1923/0615/Pg005.html#Ar00500 |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 August 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=15 June 1923 |pages=5–6}}; {{cite news |title=End of the Croker Case; Verdict for the Widow on all Points |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1923/0616/Pg005.html#Ar00502  |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 August 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=16 June 1923 |page=7}}</ref> The widow and children had related lawsuits in the United States.<ref>[https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/3599514/croker-v-croker/ Croker v. Croker, 168 N.E. 450 (NY 1929)]; 
[https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1489106/croker-v-croker/ Croker v. Croker, 51 F.2d 11 (5th Cir. 1931)]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

*{{EB1911|wstitle=Croker, Richard|volume=7|pages=481–482}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Alfred Henry |author-link=Alfred Henry Lewis |year=1901 |title=Richard Croker |url=https://archive.org/details/richardcroker00lewiiala |publisher=Life Publishing |location=New York |oclc=459654271}}
* {{cite book |last=Zink |first=Harold B. |title=City Bosses in the United States: A Study of Twenty Municipal Bosses |year=1930 |pages=128–46}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*{{Internet Archive author|sname=Richard Croker|sopt=t}}


{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{succession box |
  title=[[Tammany Hall]]|
  before=[[John Kelly (New York politician)|John Kelly]] |
  after=[[Lewis Nixon (naval architect)|Lewis Nixon]] |
  years=1886–1902}}
{{s-end}}

{{Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Croker, Richard}}
[[Category:1843 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Irish people]]
[[Category:20th-century Irish people]]
[[Category:People from Clonakilty]]
[[Category:Leaders of Tammany Hall]]
[[Category:American racehorse owners and breeders]]
[[Category:Owners of Epsom Derby winners]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism]]
[[Category:Irish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American political bosses from New York (state)]]
[[Category:American gangsters of Irish descent]]
[[Category:New York (state) Democrats]]
[[Category:Coroners of New York City]]
[[Category:Politicians from County Cork]]